puppy_fair (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
puppy_fair) wrote2009-11-20 04:34 pm
puppy_fair) wrote2009-11-20 04:34 pm
Midgar, ShinRa Building SOLDIER Floor, Friday Evening
It had started this morning, with a phone call that said in no uncertain terms that Zack was wanted back in Midgar for an assignment. The details were vague, of course, which was understandable. After all, it was impossible to secure a phone line running from one world to the next, and so Zack had been flown out to Midgar this afternoon, and he'd proceeded to spend the rest of the day in the SOLDIER floor common area. Waiting.
"Man, what is with Angeal? How long is he gonna slack off like this?"
Zack was in denial. There was no denying that much, at least. Since Angeal's disappearance last month, he'd run through every emotion from shock to betrayal to downright confusion, and now he was hitting that stage where, if he wasn't going to hear word from Angeal soon, then clearly he was simply just not getting around to contacting him quickly enough.
Righto.
"It's been a month now! Sephiroth's got it all wrong, too! Lumping Angeal together with Genesis! Genesis is a deserter who took a bunch of 2nds and 3rds with him! He used his copies to attack us! Angeal would never condone something like that! He valued SOLDIER honor more than anyone else! Ugh! Everything's so messed up these days!"
Zack had officially used up his daily allotment of exclamation marks in that ramble.
"Angeal! Just come back, please!"
Almost officially. Either way, there were more squats to be done, there in the common area of ShinRa's SOLDIER floor. Squats, squats, squats... Phone ringing. Zack straightened and dug through his pocket to pull it out.
"SOLDIER 2nd Class, Zack?" The voice coming from his phone was soft, but purposeful. And it was one that he'd never heard before in his life.
"That would be me. Who is this?"
"Director Lazard wants to see you. Go to the briefing room."
"Hey, wait!" But the guy on the other end had already hung up. Ooookay. Mister Mystery Voice apparently wasn't much for explanations. Zack shut his phone and pocketed it again, momentarily baffled. "Who was that?"
... Ah well. If the Director needed to speak with him, then he'd better start hauling butt across the SOLDIER floor anyhow.
When Zack entered the briefing room, Lazard was already there, his elbows on the desk, his hands clasped together.
Zack didn't so much as bother with a handshake or a hello this time around. Zack was a man on a mission.
"Any word on Angeal?"
Lazard shook his head and sat up, moving to cross his arms over his chest.
"He hasn't contacted his family either."
There went Zack's heart, plunging down into the pit of his stomach. Oh. He heaved a sigh, and then it was time to get back down to business.
"So what's this about?"
"A new assignment," Lazard replied. "I want you to go to the hometown of our missing SOLDIER 1st Class, Genesis."
"Huh?" Zack Fair was such an eloquent boy when he wanted to be. Truly.
"According to the parents," Lazard clarified, once again clasping his hands and resting his elbows on the desk, "they've had no contact with Genesis whatsoever. But, they can't be trusted."
"Why?"
Lazard hesitated for a moment, his head down, before he finally looked up again and replied with a sort of withering tone in his voice. "They're his family." Duh. Over Lazard's shoulder, Zack could make out the images of two men in Turks uniforms on Lazard's comptuer screen, the words 'Signal Lost' scrawled across the bottoms of their photos in large, bold letters. "I had already dispatched some staff, but we've lost contact. I want you to go and investigate. He will go with you."
And that would be when a Turk, of Wutaian descent by Zack's best guess, made his way briskly into the room, stopped, and spoke.
"Tseng, of the Turks."
... Oh, he looked like he was absolutely a barrel of laughs. Zack could tell already.
"This job is looking reeeeeally gloomy," he informed Lazard as Tseng looked his way. And there was no sympathy to be had from Lazard on this matter. The Director just gave his head a bit of a shake, rested his elbow on the tabletop again, and rested his chin on his fist. Discussion over.
"Let me know when you're ready to go," Tseng said, speaking in that soft, deliberate, businesslike tone that he'd used on the phone, before.
Zack didn't wanna.
Zack didn't wanna, and that was exactly why he'd let Kunsel talk him into making his rounds of the streets of Sector Eight, outside of the ShinRa building, before he would take off on this mission.
Downtime, Kunsel had informed him, was the time to get out and do as much as possible, so that there wouldn't be room for regrets later. The 'if you don't come back' went unsaid, and, frankly, Zack was going to choose not to hear it. Just because it was a given in his line of work didn't mean he had to acknowledge it.
Sector Eight was an interesting place, with a fountain over here, and an entire street dedicated to Loveless, a classic piece of literature that had been adapted into plays and the like over the years. Zack totally joined the study group while he was wandering around! Because when you ran into an obsessive woman in a prim and proper suit in a dark alleyway who wanted you to study fine literature, the answer was yes, damn it.
... While he was at it, he might have joined the Angeal Fan Club. And Red Leather, the fan club for Genesis, as well. Not because he was a particularly big fan of Genesis. At all. Ever. But because hey, if anybody knew anything about this guy, it had to be the fangirls, right? Fangirls were totally more awesome than that cranky guy from ShinRa's security department who had told him that Security's 18th Squad was more important than SOLDIER. Kinda. Except that they weren't at all interested in 2nd Class nobodies like him, even if he had fought the battle that had won the war, pretty much on his own.
Zack really, really wanted fangirls, too.
No fair.
[And once again, I make with the canon Catchy-uppy. Ganked from Crisis Core, of course, and open for phone calls or whatnot while Zack is wandering Midgar like the adorable little slacker that he is, but NFB for distance!]
"Man, what is with Angeal? How long is he gonna slack off like this?"
Zack was in denial. There was no denying that much, at least. Since Angeal's disappearance last month, he'd run through every emotion from shock to betrayal to downright confusion, and now he was hitting that stage where, if he wasn't going to hear word from Angeal soon, then clearly he was simply just not getting around to contacting him quickly enough.
Righto.
"It's been a month now! Sephiroth's got it all wrong, too! Lumping Angeal together with Genesis! Genesis is a deserter who took a bunch of 2nds and 3rds with him! He used his copies to attack us! Angeal would never condone something like that! He valued SOLDIER honor more than anyone else! Ugh! Everything's so messed up these days!"
Zack had officially used up his daily allotment of exclamation marks in that ramble.
"Angeal! Just come back, please!"
Almost officially. Either way, there were more squats to be done, there in the common area of ShinRa's SOLDIER floor. Squats, squats, squats... Phone ringing. Zack straightened and dug through his pocket to pull it out.
"SOLDIER 2nd Class, Zack?" The voice coming from his phone was soft, but purposeful. And it was one that he'd never heard before in his life.
"That would be me. Who is this?"
"Director Lazard wants to see you. Go to the briefing room."
"Hey, wait!" But the guy on the other end had already hung up. Ooookay. Mister Mystery Voice apparently wasn't much for explanations. Zack shut his phone and pocketed it again, momentarily baffled. "Who was that?"
... Ah well. If the Director needed to speak with him, then he'd better start hauling butt across the SOLDIER floor anyhow.
When Zack entered the briefing room, Lazard was already there, his elbows on the desk, his hands clasped together.
Zack didn't so much as bother with a handshake or a hello this time around. Zack was a man on a mission.
"Any word on Angeal?"
Lazard shook his head and sat up, moving to cross his arms over his chest.
"He hasn't contacted his family either."
There went Zack's heart, plunging down into the pit of his stomach. Oh. He heaved a sigh, and then it was time to get back down to business.
"So what's this about?"
"A new assignment," Lazard replied. "I want you to go to the hometown of our missing SOLDIER 1st Class, Genesis."
"Huh?" Zack Fair was such an eloquent boy when he wanted to be. Truly.
"According to the parents," Lazard clarified, once again clasping his hands and resting his elbows on the desk, "they've had no contact with Genesis whatsoever. But, they can't be trusted."
"Why?"
Lazard hesitated for a moment, his head down, before he finally looked up again and replied with a sort of withering tone in his voice. "They're his family." Duh. Over Lazard's shoulder, Zack could make out the images of two men in Turks uniforms on Lazard's comptuer screen, the words 'Signal Lost' scrawled across the bottoms of their photos in large, bold letters. "I had already dispatched some staff, but we've lost contact. I want you to go and investigate. He will go with you."
And that would be when a Turk, of Wutaian descent by Zack's best guess, made his way briskly into the room, stopped, and spoke.
"Tseng, of the Turks."
... Oh, he looked like he was absolutely a barrel of laughs. Zack could tell already.
"This job is looking reeeeeally gloomy," he informed Lazard as Tseng looked his way. And there was no sympathy to be had from Lazard on this matter. The Director just gave his head a bit of a shake, rested his elbow on the tabletop again, and rested his chin on his fist. Discussion over.
"Let me know when you're ready to go," Tseng said, speaking in that soft, deliberate, businesslike tone that he'd used on the phone, before.
Zack didn't wanna.
Zack didn't wanna, and that was exactly why he'd let Kunsel talk him into making his rounds of the streets of Sector Eight, outside of the ShinRa building, before he would take off on this mission.
Downtime, Kunsel had informed him, was the time to get out and do as much as possible, so that there wouldn't be room for regrets later. The 'if you don't come back' went unsaid, and, frankly, Zack was going to choose not to hear it. Just because it was a given in his line of work didn't mean he had to acknowledge it.
Sector Eight was an interesting place, with a fountain over here, and an entire street dedicated to Loveless, a classic piece of literature that had been adapted into plays and the like over the years. Zack totally joined the study group while he was wandering around! Because when you ran into an obsessive woman in a prim and proper suit in a dark alleyway who wanted you to study fine literature, the answer was yes, damn it.
... While he was at it, he might have joined the Angeal Fan Club. And Red Leather, the fan club for Genesis, as well. Not because he was a particularly big fan of Genesis. At all. Ever. But because hey, if anybody knew anything about this guy, it had to be the fangirls, right? Fangirls were totally more awesome than that cranky guy from ShinRa's security department who had told him that Security's 18th Squad was more important than SOLDIER. Kinda. Except that they weren't at all interested in 2nd Class nobodies like him, even if he had fought the battle that had won the war, pretty much on his own.
Zack really, really wanted fangirls, too.
No fair.
[And once again, I make with the canon Catchy-uppy. Ganked from Crisis Core, of course, and open for phone calls or whatnot while Zack is wandering Midgar like the adorable little slacker that he is, but NFB for distance!]